NEW RITUALS
A RITUAL FOR A NEW HAIRCUT Intention: To freshen, clean and protect your hair as it goes through a transition. Props: Olive oil, herbs, lemon. Ritual flow: 1. The morning before your haircut, get ready to take your last shower with your current hair style. 2. Before you do, take a small bowl of olive oil and mix in your favorite herbs—basil, mint, rosemary, sage or parsley. 3. Pour the oil and herbs over your head. Massage them into your hair. This is your protection mask before your cut. 4. After 20 minutes, take your shower and wash your hair. 5. Go to your haircut appointment. 6. When you come home, cut a lemon in half. 7. Squeeze it over your hair. This is the refresh.
Ritual Design Lab suggests new rituals to mark the petty losses and small triumphs that pass without ceremony.
A RITUAL FOR AIR TRAVEL Intention: To make resolutions when you are in the liminal space of the airborne. Prop: Inflatable travel pillow. Ritual flow: 1. Buy an inflatable travel pillow before your flight and keep it in your carry-on bag. 2. When you are in the air, reflect back on what to keep in your life and what to let go. 3. Take a peek out the window and pick two or three clouds and whisper your resolutions (less caffeine in the afternoon, sign up for that Pilates class) to each of them. 4. When you are about to take a nap, pick up your pillow and blow each resolution inside while you are inflating it. 5. Enjoy your nap while your resolutions brew inside your pillow. 6. When you land, deflate the pillow. This officially lets the resolution spirits start their new life.
A RITUAL FOR DEATH WHEN YOU CAN’T ATTEND THE FUNERAL Intention: To remember the person and preserve your memories. Props: Origami paper, a needle and thread. Ritual flow: 1. At the time of the funeral, sit down with some squares of paper and a pen. 2. Write down five memories that you have of the person who has died, each on a different square of paper. 3. For each memory, choose which origami form it should take: A crane, a boat, a flower, or something else that was meaningful to you and your lost one. 4. Thread a needle and push it through the origami pieces one at a time. 5. Hang the garland somewhere special.
